Strategery… Hmm… I mean strategic planning has become a norm for any association. If you are an area coordinator or a volunteer who manages other volunteers such as a regional director or committee chair, you had to submit goals for the year. One part of that goal submission process was explaining how your goal and the objectives to accomplish that goal were connected to our strategic plan. As a volunteer, you have demonstrated, possibly without knowing it, that you are committed to advancing the fraternal movement and those engaged in the day to day profession of working with this movement. You have also become engaged in an association, again, maybe without knowing it, which is committed to thinking strategically about its future. I would like to inform you in this brief writing about the work that we are doing as an executive board to plan for our future.

Since 2000, the current strategic plan has become a part of who we are as an association. Our board meetings typically start with some aspect of strategic thinking and planning, including a review of action steps, an evaluation of progress, and brainstorming for the future. At our board meeting this month in Indianapolis, we hosted Jeffrey Cufaude of Idea Architects[1] to lead us through the process of effective strategy development. In his materials, Cufaude cites Jon Katzenbach’s (2003) Why Pride Matters More than Money stating, “People who are emotionally committed to something…behave in ways that defy logic and often produces results well beyond expectations. They pursue impossible dreams, work ridiculous hours, and resolve unsolvable problems.” Chances are you are this person. You are a person who cares about the future and the outcomes. You are hopefully a person committed to thinking strategically about the future of our association.

Strategy development

So what goes into effective strategy development? Cufaude helped us to understand that strategic planning is examining the future and projecting it into the present (Cufaude, 2004). Citing renowned change management specialist Peter Drucker, Cufaude shared five vital questions that a nonprofit must ask. I will address these five questions, pose some implications for AFA, and ask you to assess how you fit into the picture.

First, what is our business or mission? Since 1976 AFA has existed with a mission statement and our by-laws reflect this, but is it the same today? What is our business? What drives us to be an association? What purpose do we serve? How do we articulate this? Do we do it well? How are we different from other associations? As a volunteer you should ask yourself how clear you are on our mission. Do you understand that we’re a professional association for the development of those invested in the fraternal movement? What did you think when you first got involved? What do you think now? How clear is it to your colleagues in the AFA world?

Second, who are our customers? The majority of the membership of AFA consists of campus-based professionals concerned with the fraternal movement. We also have members with the same level of concern working for fraternal organizations or companies servicing the movement. We host chapter advisors, vendors, and numerous other “types” of people. Who our customers once were, who they are now and who they will be in the future are vital questions to be asked. As some of you seek to recruit new members to AFA, thinking differently about the “who” will help you to create the “why” and the “how.” For example, why should we recruit chapter advisors? Because we are an association grounded in higher education committed to the fraternal movement, so when reaching out to those chapter advisors who are committed to the movement, we have a compelling case for membership.

Understanding why members stay in AFA is also vital. What compels YOU not only to renew your membership, but also remain engaged in AFA? Knowing the answers to these questions will help all of us not only have a better experience, but articulate the mission and the business we are in much better to those we seek to recruit. I spoke with Mark Manderino, the Illinois Area Coordinator, recently and asked him why he is committed to and involved in AFA. His replied that it makes sense to be involved since he is committed to this profession.

What do our customers value? What is it that drives AFA members? What value do they see in membership? What would someone who is not a member value? What can we offer people to see value? What would it take for someone not directly advising fraternities and sororities on a college campus to become involved? The innovative ideas you all come up with on recruiting members, planning programs, developing resources, and the many other things you do should be based on the needs and wants of our members. When we learned that our members who had been around for a while needed something more, we sought out opportunities to engage them (a work still in progress, but we are working on it). Our members value a quality Annual Meeting and we work toward this. Evaluating what our values are as AFA leaders should be no less of a priority than the conversations we have with students about values on our campus.

What have been our results? Well, there have been many. We have been successful in implementing many of our objectives from our plan over the years, but we’re still in the process of seeing the results come to fruition. Future implications for our association will be determined by how the programs, services and resources implemented as a result of the strategic plan become part of our future plan. We have to evaluate our current resources and see what we are lacking. We need to evaluate membership privileges and see how they can be augmented. As volunteers, we need you to be on the look out. What is being done in other associations? How are our results being recognized? Also, we need you to be vocal about the results. You should know our strategic plan, know what we have accomplished, and articulate it to the masses. If you are not passionate about AFA and what we do, then who the heck will be? Our future plan will be based on results.

What is our plan? We have it and we are using it, but how will it look in a year? Can we use the same plan and just change the objectives? Will our six focal areas stay the same? Do they have to? What would be different? You WILL be asked for input. The Executive Board is discussing strategies to make the process of the next plan more involving and inclusive. We will conduct environmental scans and we will seek feedback. We will conduct assessment and evaluation of the member needs of our association and we will need you to not only reply but to ask your colleagues to do so as well.

Conclusion

Bravo to those who have been deeply engaged in the strategic process for the last five years. It is oftentimes exciting, sometimes draining and tedious, but always vital. The future of strategic planning within AFA will be essential to our development as an association. We will need you to be involved. Some of you may be intimately involved as future board members. Some may be engaged because you will be asked to fill out surveys, provide feedback, and/or assist in the scanning process. Right now you are important to our association. I can tell you that as we begin this process, you will become vital and essential. Perhaps you are interested in being engaged in something powerful and exciting that will shape the future of AFA. That is for you to decide.

References: 

Cufaude, J. (2004). Effective strategy development. Handouts received at the Association of Fraternity Advisors Executive Board Spring Meeting on March 15, 2004. Indianapolis, In.

Katzenbach, J. (2003). Why pride matters more than money. Crown Publishing Group.